You’re going to have to wait until this Sunday to taste chef Mike McElroy’s insanely good bourbon-brined smoked chicken at the D & T Drive Inn. For now, it’s just a Sunday special, but in a couple of weeks it will go onto the permanent menu at the Heights craft-beer watering hole, which styles itself “a modern ice house.”

I sampled the bourbon chicken in wing form during its test phase and was wowed by the way a slight tinge of vinegar in the marinade lifted the mellow bourbon tones, making the most of them; and by the degree of glazing on the skin. The meat was unusually juicy, too, and I scarfed down my portion in about ten seconds flat. It’s been awhile since a piece of chicken got such an intense, feral reaction from me.

Instead of wings, D & T will be serving smoked drumsticks by the $8 basket, along with potato salad, a roll and a pickled pepper.

McElroy is a Lousiana guy with a shaven, tattooed head and a pirate’s beard. He’s come up with a deep-Southern barbecue wrinkle to go with the bourbon chicken: an Alabama “white barbecue sauce” based on mayonnaise with vinegar, jalapeño and spices. Sounds peculiar, but I’m inclined to trust the chef on this. I already have formed a deep and possibly unhealthy attachment to his cheese-stuffed pickled peppers, which are made to go with D & T’s impressive lineup of microbrews on tap.

I loved the relaxed feel of the place, too, and the sea of picnic-table seating on the patio out back. Just tasting that bourbon chicken made me eager to go back and work my way through the menu, starting with the grilled pimento cheese sandwich.

Yes, I am THAT person. Aren’t you? Maybe I’ll even ask for some white barbecue sauce on the side.